Weather warnings on Wednesday and Thursday’s will also cover Cornwall, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

By Wednesday night, more than 20cm (8ins) of snow could have accumulated in some parts of eastern England and Northern Ireland, forecasters have warned.

Scotland is expected to have between 5cm (2ins) 10and 10cm (4ins) of snow on Wednesday.

The Met Office is predicting that some roads may become impassable and vehicles may be stranded.

BBC Weather has warned of possibly hazardous conditions in southern England later in the week as a low pressure weather system moves up from the Bay of Biscay and hits the already “exceptionally cold air”.